CALGARY – The Haisla First Nation is urging Ottawa to delay a decision on Enbridge Inc.’s $7.9-billion Northern Gateway pipeline, warning that a hasty approval “would be illegal” in the absence of “meaningful” consultation with aboriginal groups.

“Canada has the ability to extend the timelines for a Governor-in-Council decision on the proposed project under the legislation governing the review of the proposed project,” the Haisla told federal departments including Natural Resources Canada in a report this month. “The Haisla Nation urges Canada to take this step now.”

A final decision on Gateway from the federal Cabinet is expected by July, following a panel report last year that found the project’s projected economic benefits outweighed potential environmental risks.

Environmental groups and some First Nations — including the Haisla — have challenged that decision in federal court on grounds the panel ignored the adverse effects of oil sands development.

Attention is now turning to Ottawa’s obligation to “consult and accommodate” aboriginal groups as set out in 2004 by the Supreme Court of Canada. The federal government has asked for written input from First Nations potentially affected by the 1,178-kilometre oil pipeline to the Pacific, which would connect Alberta’s oil sands with petroleum-thirsty Asian markets. But the Haisla say consultation “has not really started.”

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“You can’t just drop this on us and think about consultation in isolation,” Ellis Ross, Chief Councilor of the Haisla Nation, told the Financial Post from Kitimaat Village on the B.C. coast. “You’ve got to take it back to Day One when we were requesting consultation with you guys and we got mixed answers. We got everything but consultation.”

The Haisla hold considerable sway with regard to Gateway. Enbridge is seeking rights to 1,181 acres of land in Haisla traditional territory to build a terminal to feed supertankers with up to 525,000 barrels of oil sands-derived crude a day.

The Calgary-based company has said Gateway could be up and running by 2018, although executives have warned of “significant” cost increases when a more detailed engineering assessment is complete later this year.

The approval granted by regulators last year placed 209 conditions on the pipeline, with many designed to protect the environment. Enbridge has also pledged to spend $500-million extra to build thicker pipe walls and station staff at remote locations to cut risks of a spill.

But the Haisla are unconvinced. The group wants Ottawa to address outstanding concerns related to potential project impacts it says were overlooked in the recently completed joint review process.

Federal officials plan to hold face-to-face meetings with dozens of potentially affected aboriginal groups over 45 days, a period the Haisla say “is not an adequate amount of time to complete a meaningful consultation process.”

While the Crown is legally obligated to consult — and sometimes accommodate — First Nations on land and resource issues that could impact their aboriginal interests, experts say the law doesn’t detail how that process should proceed and at what point the duty is fulfilled.

Ottawa has used the regulatory review process to stand as its aboriginal consultations since 2007. Douglas Eyford, a Vancouver lawyer appointed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to draw up a road map for West Coast energy infrastructure, said formalizing consultations in regulatory hearings carries risks unique to First Nations.

“You’re avoiding the relationship-building that’s necessary from their perspective of pursuing projects in their traditional territories,” he said in an interview.

The Haisla say Ottawa has ignored multiple requests for meetings “for over six years” and has “consistently under-funded” aboriginal participation in the review process to date. The group says it applied under funding rules for $568,028 to participate in the current phase of Gateway consultation, for example, but received a “token” amount of $14,000.

A spokeswoman for Natural Resources Canada said Joe Oliver has met with Mr. Ross on three occasions.

The government will “consult with affected aboriginal groups and then make our decision within the current timeline set out for the project review process,” Melissa Lantsman said.